August 08, 2017

Tata Steel launches 'The Green School Project' at West Bokaro

West Bokaro: Tata Steel today launched ‘The Green School Project’ in association with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) for the West Bokaro and Jharia division. The project was launched at West Bokaro auditorium by Ranjana Singh followed by unveiling of the teachers’ learning material by Sanjay Kumar Singh, general manager, coal, Tata Steel; Dr MN Sridar Babu, fellow, Environment Education Awareness (EEA), TERI; Neha, fellow, EEA, TERI; Kiran Yadav, principal, Tata DAV Public School, Ghatotand, and other senior officials of Tata Steel.

Aimed at creating awareness and understanding about environment issues in school campuses in the operational areas of Tata Steel, TERI has been actively promoting environment awareness through classroom teaching and outdoor activities. The project will encompass year-round activities related to environment in schools for 15 months where “Whole school” approach is being adopted with emphasis on students of Class 6 to 8 in the formal schools for capacity building initiatives. This is the second such launch by Tata Steel in its mining location. The first launch was at Joda in April 2017.

Briefing the gathering about the importance of reduce, reuse and recycle, Mr Singh said, “We all have a responsibility towards nature and every person has a role to play in making the ecosystem sustainable. Students are the future of this country and the onus is on them to embrace environmental initiatives for a sustainable future. I am sure that the project will create a sense of environmental consciousness in the minds of teachers and students.”

“Behavioural change among youth and sustainable approach towards environmental progress are the important aspects to achieve economic growth,” opined Mr Babu. Explaining about the project to the students and teachers, Ms Neha said that the project has been designed after conducting a survey in the identified schools to find out the gaps in environmental studies and this project aims at bridging the gap by promoting a proactive engagement with schools through enhancement in understanding about local environment issues.

In the first phase, 10 schools have been identified for the project from Tata Steel’s areas of operations in Jharkhand and Odisha. From West Bokaro and Jharia divisions, two schools, namely, Tata DAV Public School, Ghatotand and DAV Public School, Jamadoba have been identified for the project. In the second phase, the project envisions to increase the number of schools.

More than 200 school students and teachers from 6 schools from in and around West Bokaro and one school from Jharia participated in the event . A knowledge session for teachers and students was also conducted post launch followed by activities like model making and quiz competition. Prizes were given to students at the end of the programme. A skit on ‘Save Water’ by the students of Tata DAV Public School, Ghatotand was the show stealer of the event.